Entertainment in the Elizabethan Era By: Alexandria Driskill
Entertainment back in the Elizabethan era was very important to the people who lived in that era. The costumes and festivals played a huge role in the Elizabethan life. The Costumes and festivals were usually related to the Church. Life for the Elizabethans wasn't very easy. The life expectancy of the people was low because of diseases and such. It was especially important when there was something to celebrate such as a wedding or victories and such. Feast, jousting, and dances with music occurred more often. The poor peoples entertainment includes: tournaments, dancing, trained animals, and more. There wasn’t a lot of entertainment in the Elizabethan era but there was enough to keep the people busy.
There was many different types of Elizabethan Entertainment such as:
Feasts - Large meals, usually for numerous amounts people and joined by court entertainment.
Banquets - A ceremonial dinner honoring a special guest.
Fairs - The Annual Summer Fair was often a bawdy affair.
Plays - Plays enacted in town squares followed by the actors using the courtyards of taverns or inns.
Mystery Plays - Re-enactments of stories from the Bible.
Dancing - Elizabethan dances enjoyed by the Upper Classes, Royalty and Nobility included the Cinque-pace, Galliard, Pavane, Roundel, Tordion and the Volta
Jousts / Tournaments -Matches between two or more warriors.
Games and Sports - Sports and games which included bowling, archery, dice, cards, hammer-throwing, quarter-staff contests, quoits, skittles and wrestling
Hunting - Sport that including using dogs
Alchin, L.K. (May 16, 2005).
Music “All Classes of people enjoyed music and dancing for entertainment. Everyone was expected to learn to sing or play and instrument. Country or ’round’ dances were popular at every level of society. Reading was popular with people of all classes too, there were books of all kinds, which could be expensive or very cheap. Board games like chess, draughts, backgammon and a similar game called Tric-Trac were popular indoor pastimes. Every considerable town had its annual fair, and many had more than one. Most fairs had their own speciality. There were sheep fairs, horse and cattle fairs, cloth fairs, cheese fairs, and the famous Nottingham Goose Fair, held in October and lasting for three weeks. “
Louis, C. (2010, April 24).
Theatre
When people think of theatre, they usually think the audience has to be wealthy. Fortunately the pricing of the plays written by great artists as in William Shakespear, was very affordable for all classes of people. Queen Elizabeth did not attend these performances in amphitheatres. She liked to attend the private performances.
Royal Pavilion
The royal pavilion was probably designed for the fortnight long extravaganza of jousting and feasting staged in northern France in 1520 to seal a short-lived treaty of friendship between Henry VIII and Francis I. So lavish were the gilded decorations adorning the tents in which the two sides were encamped-the English contingent alone numbered around 4,000-that the ocasion became known as the field of Cloth of Gold.
By: Alexandria Driskill
Entertainment back in the Elizabethan era was very important to the people who lived in that era. The costumes and festivals played a huge role in the Elizabethan life. The Costumes and festivals were usually related to the Church. Life for the Elizabethans wasn't very easy. The life expectancy of the people was low because of diseases and such. It was especially important when there was something to celebrate such as a wedding or victories and such. Feast, jousting, and dances with music occurred more often. The poor peoples entertainment includes: tournaments, dancing, trained animals, and more. There wasn’t a lot of entertainment in the Elizabethan era but there was enough to keep the people busy.
There was many different types of Elizabethan Entertainment such as:
Alchin, L.K. (May 16, 2005).
Music
“All Classes of people enjoyed music and dancing for entertainment. Everyone was expected to learn to sing or play and instrument. Country or ’round’ dances were popular at every level of society. Reading was popular with people of all classes too, there were books of all kinds, which could be expensive or very cheap. Board games like chess, draughts, backgammon and a similar game called Tric-Trac were popular indoor pastimes. Every considerable town had its annual fair, and many had more than one. Most fairs had their own speciality. There were sheep fairs, horse and cattle fairs, cloth fairs, cheese fairs, and the famous Nottingham Goose Fair, held in October and lasting for three weeks. “
Louis, C. (2010, April 24).
Theatre
When people think of theatre, they usually think the audience has to be wealthy. Fortunately the pricing of the plays written by great artists as in William Shakespear, was very affordable for all classes of people. Queen Elizabeth did not attend these performances in amphitheatres. She liked to attend the private performances.
Royal Pavilion
The royal pavilion was probably designed for the fortnight long extravaganza of jousting and feasting staged in northern France in 1520 to seal a short-lived treaty of friendship between Henry VIII and Francis I. So lavish were the gilded decorations adorning the tents in which the two sides were encamped-the English contingent alone numbered around 4,000-that the ocasion became known as the field of Cloth of Gold.
References:
Alchin, L.K. (May 16, 2005). Elizabethan Entertainment. ( December 14, 2010),
Retrieved from http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-entertainment.htm
Louis, C. (2010, April 24). What type of entertainment did the people in the Elizabethan age have? [Web log comment]. Retrieved from
http://arts-entertainment.versatileinformationportal.com/how-to/what-type-of-entertainment-did-the-people-in-the-elizabethan-age-have/.
(2010, December 14)
Papanek , J.L. (Eds.). (1989). The European Emergence. Time Life Books: Alexandria, Virginia. (Chap. 3. Pg 68)
Elizabethan Audiences, Elizabethan theatre Audiences. (December 15, 2010). Retrieved from http://www.elizabethanenglandlife.com/elizabethan-audiences.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmjrzipjQvM